news & blues

Curses, Foiled Again

After police investigating the shooting death of a convenience-store clerk in Pasadena, Texas, identified Michael Ray Morris, 29, as one of their two suspects, Morris returned to the crime scene to complain to a television reporter that he’d merely been a customer. The reporter jotted down Morris’ license plate number and passed it along to police. Detectives contacted Morris, who’d also called the police station to object to being named a suspect. During questioning, Morris gave detectives information he thought was bolstering his alibi but that led police to Daniel J. Stiner, 22, who confessed to the shooting and implicated Morris as his accomplice. (Houston’s KRIV-TV) During a routine traffic stop in Dallas, Texas, Mario Miramontes, 22, hoped to conceal his arrest warrant by giving the officer the name of his cousin, Christopher Ayala, 25. He’d used the name before, but this time the officer’s search disclosed that the cousin also had a warrant, on charges of fondling an underage relative. “I thought the name was clean,” said Miramontes, who wound up spending 13 months in the Dallas County Jail without access to a lawyer. He was finally released after Ayala’s attorney, who said he told prosecutors many times that they had the wrong man in custody, finally convinced Judge Larry Mitchell of the mix-up. (The Dallas Morning News)

Price of Denial

A military jury at Fort Meade, Md., sentenced Lt. Col. Terrance Lakin to six months in military prison and dismissal from the Army after he disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he doubts whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States and therefore questions his eligibility to be commander-in-chief. He said he would have gladly deployed if Obama’s original birth certificate were released and proved authentic. (Associated Press)

Avoirdupois Alert

The Department of Defense released data that show 75 percent of Americans aged 17 to 24 don’t qualify for military service because they are physically unfit, have a criminal record or didn’t graduate high school. The DoD report notes that about one-fourth of high school graduates are obese, making them medically ineligible to enlist in any branch of the military. In 1980, by comparison, just 5 percent of youth were categorized as obese. (Associated Press) Despite growing concerns about obesity among America’s young people, 32 states allow students to waive physical education classes, according to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. Students in those states can skip phys ed by enrolling in interscholastic sports, marching band, cheerleading, ROTC or other activities. Thirty of the states allow waivers for health issues, disabilities or religious reasons. Some students are able to fulfill their phys ed requirement with online courses, which combine health and nutrition study with exercises for students to do on their own. (USA Today)

Snow Daze

Police investigating a disturbance at a housing project in Norwalk, Conn., reported that Clara Nelson, 53, and her daughter, Cristalle Nelson, 31, had just finished digging out their car, when Sheryl Rogers, 35, and her 16-yearold son, began shoveling and tossing snow where the Nelsons already cleared. As the two families argued, Cristalle Nelson hit Rogers over the head with her shovel. Rogers’ son tried to hit Cristalle but missed and struck Clara Nelson instead. Police charged Cristalle Nelson and the son with assault. (Stamford Advocate) Authorities accused Leo J. Powers, 23, of making bombs at his former residence in Abington, Mass., and using them to clear snow so he wouldn’t have to shovel. Noting that Powers had been blowing up snow banks for some time, Police Chief David Majenski said investigators who searched the home discovered a container filled with “military-grade ammunition and other stuff, including powders of some sort.” (Quincy’s The Patriot Ledger) Veteran alpine skier Roland Fleck, 78, was arrested for skiing uphill at Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. After informing Fleck that skiing uphill was against Wyoming law and repeatedly ordering him to “ski properly,” seven ski patrollers and two deputies spent 3.5 hours trying to stop Fleck before finally handcuffing him and tobogganing him off the slopes.

(The Jackson Hole News & Guide)

Slightest Provocation

Police said Anthony Rapoport beat his aunt to death with a baseball bat at the home they shared in Wilmette, Ill., after a series of minor disputes that began when the two argued over the type of doughnuts that Nancee Rapoport, 49, wanted her nephew to buy. Later, she reported he had hidden her cell phone. Police who responded to the call said Anthony Rapoport told them he was “tired of being nagged.”

A subsequent call reported seeing Nancee Rapoport’s bludgeoned body on the kitchen floor. (Chicago Tribune) Police charged Tony Morris, 37, with using a crowbar to beat his brother, Thomas Morris, 41, while they were visiting their mother in Akron, Ohio, after the two argued because Tony thought Thomas had taken a bite out of a piece of chicken and placed it back in the frying pan. Tony tossed the half-eaten piece of chicken at Thomas, who suggested they go outside and handle their dispute like men. Tony grabbed the crowbar and charged after Thomas, who ran outside but slipped on the icy porch. Tony then struck him several times in the head. Their 57-year-old mother, who called 911, admitted to police that she ate the chicken. (The Akron Beacon Journal) Police responding to an assault in Redding, Calif., at 4 a.m. reported that the incident began when a woman saw her neighbor empty a cat litter box in the woman’s front yard. The woman responded by pouring her own cat’s litter box over the neighbor’s car, whereupon the neighbor pushed the woman to the ground. Both women called the police, who said they have a long-standing dispute. (Redding’s The Record Searchlight)

Success Breeds Failure

Red-light cameras, which many motorists insist are aimed at enhancing revenue rather than safety, have reduced the number of tickets issued in Chicago suburbs so successfully that jurisdictions which counted on the fines in their budgets are experiencing significant shortfalls. Libertyville, Ill., for instance, projected net revenues from red-light violations at $462,000 this fiscal year, but after six months, only $32,000 had been taken in. Although municipal officials agree the decreased revenue is manageable if it promotes safer driving, Gary Biller, executive director of the National Motorists Association, which opposes red-light cameras, suggested, “It’s not that driver behavior is being modified. It’s just that people avoid those areas.” (Chicago Tribune)

Not-So-Great Escape

When a police officer approached Jona Zeigler, 40, in Moses Lake, Wash., to arrest her for an outstanding felony warrant, she drove away. At one point, she decided to flee on foot. “She tried getting out of her car as it was rolling and tripped and was dragged underneath her vehicle,” police Capt. Dave Sands said, adding that Zeigler was taken to the hospital for treatment prior to her arrest. (Moses Lake’s Columbia Basin Herald)

Ancestry-Community Follies

The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission said it would review a policy by Waikiki restaurant Keoni by Keo’s that adds a mandatory 15 percent tip to the checks of customers who don’t speak English. A restaurant representative explained that its many international visitors customarily don’t tip, so it’s merely trying to help its wait staff. The workers not only rely on tips for income, but also must pay taxes on a percentage of the restaurant’s total sales that Internal Revenue Service rules consider to be tips, even if they aren’t. Bill Hoshijo, executive director of the Civil Rights Commission, acknowledged the commission hasn’t received any complaints, but said it’s looking into the restaurant’s practice anyway because “discrimination based on language is ancestry discrimination.” (Honolulu’s KITV-TV)

Static-Cling Art

Laura Bell created a 14-by-4-foot replica of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” out of laundry lint. Bell, of Roscommon, Mich., said she spent 800 hours doing enough laundry to get the lint — buying towels of the colors she wanted and washing them separately to get the right shades of lint — and another 200 hours to reproduce the Italian Renaissance painter’s masterpiece. (Associated Press)

Overseas Homeland Insecurity

U.S. service members and their families stationed at Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa are accepting money from local companies to bring tourists onto the base, despite warnings that this activity is against the rules and poses a security threat. Companies such as American Pro and Friends Abroad International Cultural Exchange sell trips that offer American cultural experiences to students on mainland Japan, Kadena military officials said. The companies recruit mostly military spouses to host the visiting students for a day and sponsor tours of military facilities. “When sponsors sign somebody onto the installation without knowing their intentions or motivations, it puts the whole of Kadena at risk,” Air Force official Ed Gulick said. (Stars and Stripes)

Second-Amendment Follies

While shooting at a bird in the rafters of a cookie factory in River Falls, Wis., the 29-yearold plant manager missed the bird but accidentally shot an employee in the back of the head.

The manager didn’t realize he’d hit anyone and went about his business. Meanwhile, the injured employee, a 28-year-old man who’d just started working at the Best Maid Cookie plant, said he remained at his workstation for almost another hour after he was shot because he wasn’t allowed to leave the cookie machine unattended. He waited until his scheduled break to drive to the police station and report the incident. (River Falls Journal)

Fool for a Client

Representing himself against first-degree murder charges in DuPage County, Ill., Joshua Matthews, 25, threatened to turn over courtroom tables and became involved in a physical altercation that resulted in his being Tasered before the jury entered. Insisting on wearing a bright orange prisoner outfit with the legs rolled up to his knees, a pair of white socks and metal shackles around his ankles, Matthews stammered and swore throughout his 45-minute opening statement, at one point shouting to the jury, “Y’all must think I’m crazy.” He told the jurors he intended to prove “everyone they [prosecutors] put on the stand is lying,” adding, “They ain’t got (expletive) on me.” (Suburban Chicago’s Daily Herald)

Improbable Causes

Fire investigators concluded that a house fire, which caused $30,000 worth of damage in Portland, Ore., was started by tenants using a hole in the floor as an ashtray. “That’s not careless smoking,” fire official Paul Corah said, “that’s stupid smoking.” (Portland’s KPTV-TV) Workers at a landfill in Summit County, Colo., tried to start a tractor-trailer in below-zero weather by putting a pan with lit charcoal under the tractor’s oil pan to warm the engine. The tractor caught fire. “They clearly didn’t mean to torch the truck,” fire official Steve Lipsher said, noting that firefighters needed an hour to extinguish the blaze. (The Denver Post) Authorities arrested Gary Lee Albertson, 33, for causing at least four fires in McClain County, Okla., while towing a truck without any tires. Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Huff said the metal on the road sparked the fires, which burned about 60 acres, heavily damaged one home and damaged several other structures. (Oklahoma City’s KWTV-TV) Fire officials said a house fire in Medina, Ohio, started accidentally when a 19-year-old boy used a lighter to look for a remote control under his bed. “Up went the mattress,” said the boy’s mother, Karen Rhine. “He tried to flip over the mattress to get it and put it out, and everything just went up.” Fire Chief Bob Painter said the situation worsened when the family panicked while trying to escape and tried to limit smoke damage to the house by opening windows and doors. “It just turned the whole house into a chimney, feeding the fire with oxygen, and it just continued to grow,” Painter said, estimating the damage at $180,000. (Cleveland’s WJW-TV)

A van exploded in Bellevue, Wash., when the three people inside tried to keep the motor running by pouring gasoline directly into the carburetor while driving. One of them told police they’d bought two gallons of gas from a station minutes earlier but didn’t have a gas can, so they kept it in an open bucket. After removing the engine cowling, located between the two front seats, they used a water bottle to transfer gas from the bucket to the carburetor. The explosion occurred after the vehicle stalled and the driver tried to restart it. All three were on fire when they jumped from the van but survived. (Bellevue Reporter)

Slightest Provocation

Authorities charged Edna Elizabeth Verdin, 47, with hitting her boyfriend in the face with a frozen steak in Terrebonne Parish, La., after she became upset because she couldn’t find room in the freezer to chill a bottle of tequila. (Houma’s The Courier) Donna Ambrosio-Ruglio, 45, was charged with hitting a 9-year-old boy with a frying pan in Randolph, N.J., when he dropped a bagel with cream cheese on the floor and a dog began licking it up. The boy told police that Ambrosio-Ruglio, who was caring for him, yelled at him that the cream cheese would kill the dog and whacked him on the head with the pan. (Parsippany’s Daily Record)